Cleaning Copper the Easy Way

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Re: Cleaning Copper the Easy Way

Postby Gas on » Tue Aug 14, 2012 5:47 am

5Star wrote:Hot backset works just as well.

Next time you do a stripping run just throw the coil in a bucket of stuff straight from the boiler and leave it overnight :dance:

+1
set & forget, it so easy n works very with copper with a lite scrub. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: Cleaning Copper the Easy Way

Postby crow » Tue Oct 09, 2012 5:17 pm

jdonly1 wrote:I like my copper dirty like my women lol :laughing-rolling:

Fucking hell jd what happened to my favourite avitar
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Re: Cleaning Copper the Easy Way

Postby googe » Sat Dec 29, 2012 9:51 pm

Had a total memory recall today, many moons ago when i worked in the dairy industry making cheese and flavored milks and such, we did a chemical aplication certificate or something like that it was called.. The instructor had 3 pirex jugs with a raw chicken leg in each, he put sulfuric acid in one, brutt22 i think it was called(insain concentrated cleaning agent) and chlorine in the last, and asked us which one we thought would be more harmful. We all said sulfuric acid. One hour later at the end of the test he brought the jugs out ( not them sort of jugs :roll: ) the brutt and sulfuric acid did some bad harm to the legs but the chlorine totally stripped the flesh off the bone!!. Sooooo to make a long story short, i thought hmm.. wonder if it would work on copper :laughing-rolling: i soaked it over night and when i looked this morning it had stripped every bit of over run solder off it and all the flux. Ive since scrubed the copper and doesnt seem to have affected the joins. not that i can see :? . Couldnt believe how it ate the solder away though :laughing-rolling: .
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Re: Cleaning Copper the Easy Way

Postby googe » Fri Feb 08, 2013 4:11 pm

Tried tartic acid last night cause it was in the cupboard and I map curious, worked really well :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: Cleaning Copper the Easy Way

Postby Sam. » Sat Feb 09, 2013 8:27 pm

Since this has came back up, using backset works a treat of your first run of whatever. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

The backset of the spirit run does not :handgestures-thumbdown:
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Re: Cleaning Copper the Easy Way

Postby googe » Sat Mar 23, 2013 8:31 am

Hey all, might as we'll.put this here. I have solder smeared on one of my modules from using bernzomatic shit!. I wiped the join with a rag but it wasn't wet and solder went everywhere, and I tried to wipe it out but just spread it more :angry-banghead: . Has anyone got any ideas as to get rid of it apart from sanding, it's not in the easiest spot to sand. Thanks for any help.
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Re: Cleaning Copper the Easy Way

Postby Brendan » Sat Mar 23, 2013 8:53 am

Sanding is the only way googe, unless you want to reflow it but you'd be asking for trouble that way.

If you can get a Dremel tool or the cheap copy version, you can hit any spot...my entire build is cleaned up with that basically and little grinding discs and mini steel wire brushes :handgestures-thumbupleft:

There's also a little thin rat tail file as an option...?

I really don't mind the bernzomatic stuff... I find it identical to the aquasafe, and I rate their flux due to the limited amount of harmful ingredients. Sure the stuff flows really well, maybe too well, but that's perfect for its intended application being capillary filled joins in plumbing connections...
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Re: Cleaning Copper the Easy Way

Postby Brendan » Sat Mar 23, 2013 8:58 am

googe wrote:Tried tartic acid last night cause it was in the cupboard and I map curious, worked really well :handgestures-thumbupleft:


If you buy say a 2 or 3 inch steel wire brush (about $3-$6 Bunnings/Masters), that has a square bit end to fit a drill chuck...you would be surprised what it can do to all your solder/flux residue and all the green oxidisation shit on there. Between sanding excess solder, and a good hit with the steel wire brush, you can just about get a mirror shine on it :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: Cleaning Copper the Easy Way

Postby googe » Sat Mar 23, 2013 10:15 am

Thanks Brendan, yeah kind of guessed there wasn't any secret way lol. Can't be assed with all that sanding, I've got all sorts of wire brushes and wheels but don't really like the finish they leave, the ones i use might not be fine enough also. Flapp wheels are probably the best polishers I've got, might give that a go if I can be bothered lol. Have you tried bakers flux?, that berzo stuff smokes so bad and stinks the shed out. Were all different though hey :handgestures-thumbupleft: .
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Re: Cleaning Copper the Easy Way

Postby Brendan » Sat Mar 23, 2013 11:16 pm

If the Bernzo stuff is smoking it means you apply heat too close to it and are burning the flux, which will make the join hard to flow as well....I get it bubbling as it should, but no smoke at all?

Yeah I don't like the finish the wire wheels leave either, but they're good for cleaning up all the black residue left over and the green oxidation crap... Then I take to it with about 7 grades of sand paper :handgestures-thumbupleft: I can be bothered with it though cause I love the copper porn :D I spend more time cleaning up joins, sanding, polishing than the entire build! :o I could've been finished weeks ago with a black still :laughing-rolling:
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Re: Cleaning Copper the Easy Way

Postby Linny » Sun Mar 24, 2013 7:46 am

Function over form buddy LOL thats my motto :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:
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Re: Cleaning Copper the Easy Way

Postby Yummyrum » Sun Mar 24, 2013 4:36 pm

Brendan wrote:I can be bothered with it though cause I love the copper porn :D I spend more time cleaning up joins, sanding, polishing than the entire build! :o


I'm with you on this one Brendan :handgestures-thumbupleft: My VM took for eva..Dread to think how long a bubbler will take me :-p

Googe, files sand paper and SS scrubbers
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Re: Cleaning Copper the Easy Way

Postby googe » Sun Mar 24, 2013 4:44 pm

Yummyrum wrote:
Brendan wrote:I can be bothered with it though cause I love the copper porn :D I spend more time cleaning up joins, sanding, polishing than the entire build! :o


I'm with you on this one Brendan :handgestures-thumbupleft: My VM took for eva..Dread to think how long a bubbler will take me :-p

Googe, files sand paper and SS scrubbers
nah fuck that, I'm to lazy :laughing-rolling: I'll just wait till I do another bubbler cause I wont have a mess not using the berzo shit lol.
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Re: Cleaning Copper the Easy Way

Postby VARocketry » Sun May 12, 2013 1:20 am

OK, on this thread's advice I tried the CLR product as my wife had some in the laundry room. New pipe turned out bright and shiny, old oxidized pipe cleaned up considerably with a pinkish hue. I think I'll try again on this oxidized piece (my 2" column pipe) using the ASK HOW recommended method of squeezing half a lemon and adding KOSHER Salt to make a slurry that you then rub onto the oxidized areas.

Once COPPER PORN is achieved, how do you keep it that way? I researched that a bit and found this excellent paper out of the UK:

Clear Protective Coatings for Copper and Copper Alloys, Publication TN41, 1991

http://www.corrosionist.com/pub-41-clear-protective-coatings-for-copper.pdf

It recommends a product called INCRALAC which is a product that provides a non-dulling formulated protective coating with the addition of benzotriazole as a corrosion inhibitor.

The International Copper Association has funded the development of coatings specially formulated for use on copper and its alloys. This work has resulted in a number of recommendations but the only coating available commercially as a direct result of this work is "Incralac". "Incralac" is a solvent-based, air drying acrylic resin coating which can be applied by any of the methods commonly used for solvent-based coatings. It contains an addition of benzotriazole which acts as a most effective corrosion inhibitor ensuring that the underlying metal will not tarnish even where the film is damaged. It has a high clarity and is resistant to degradation by ultra-violet light.


Talasonline.com had the best prices I could find in 30 minutes of GOOGLING and a huge variety of related products, ie., cleaners, polish, rags, etc.

They carry INCRALAC in several forms (water based, solvent based, aerosol can,):

http://apps.webcreate.com/ecom/catalog/product_search.cfm?ClientID=15&SearchType=Keyword&SearchField=incralac&x=-410&y=-27

Cheers Copper Porn'ers!
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Re: Cleaning Copper the Easy Way

Postby VARocketry » Sun May 12, 2013 1:55 am

I just tried the Lemon juice/salt recommendation. I used SEA SALT instead of Kosher Salt and the granules did not appreciably dissolve. The solution did not noticeably affect or clean any of the remaining oxidation beyond what the CLR cleaner achieved last night.
Fail.

I've ordered the copper polishing compound (and INCRALAC from TALAS) to finish the job now that the surface is relatively clean. I had a chance to polish part of the pipe, last week, at my Metalworking class using their polishing station and red rouge. Now that's pretty!
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Re: Cleaning Copper the Easy Way

Postby SBB » Sun May 12, 2013 10:05 am

Give the older piece of pipe another burst with the CLR, as you've said it will have a pinkish tinge/hue.
A very quick rub with Brasso or a metal polish like "Autosol" will get rid of the pink.
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Re: Cleaning Copper the Easy Way

Postby Brendan » Sun May 12, 2013 10:52 am

VARocketry wrote:
Once COPPER PORN is achieved, how do you keep it that way?


This is how...the stuff was developed by the American Copper Institute or some such organisation, for use on copper to protect it and prevent it from oxidising.

Wattyl Clear Lacquer Finish

When I'm doing a build, I file away all the excess solder so the joins are neat, and then polish and buff the hell out of the copper, then tape up anywhere vapour will be in contact, and give it a good 6 coats of this stuff...stays that beautiful gold colour forever (well for at least 18 months so far...) :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: Cleaning Copper the Easy Way

Postby bt1 » Sun May 12, 2013 11:00 am

Good tub up, fine grade SS wool, no finger prints etc wipe with metho as a final and then prefer this one in clear product code SP115 ..

Don't paint on high humidity days...traps moisture like all coatings will.

http://www.vhtpaint.com/products/flameproof/

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Re: Cleaning Copper the Easy Way

Postby invisigoth » Tue May 14, 2013 11:02 pm

since i wanted a brushed look, after vinegar cleaning and rinsing, i wiped it down with wax and grease remover, used a maroon scuff pad in one direction, wiped it down with a post cleaner solution, taped up the flanges and fittings, then hit it with 2k automotive clear. was tempted to hit a couple of sections with chrome effect, but decided against it :))
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Re: Cleaning Copper the Easy Way

Postby Gas on » Tue May 14, 2013 11:28 pm

invisigoth wrote:since i wanted a brushed look, after vinegar cleaning and rinsing, i wiped it down with wax and grease remover, used a maroon scuff pad in one direction, wiped it down with a post cleaner solution, taped up the flanges and fittings, then hit it with 2k automotive clear. was tempted to hit a couple of sections with chrome effect, but decided against it :))


Any pics you can put up for us? :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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